A Festive Red True Bias Nikko Dress

Somehow I managed to pull out all of the stops and make this dress in super quick time. Which is good, because my ‘vision’ was to make this to wear on Christmas day.

I haven’t made a Nikko before, so it was a bit of a gamble as to whether or not I would like it… if it would suit me… because it’s a bit of a daring one! I was feeling brave enough to give it a go though. I guess I now feel as though I have a body that I’m happy with. Maybe this is a combination of losing a bit of weight, and also just caring a little bit less about this than my pre-baby self! I’m not sure if this is a make that I will get an awful lot of wear out of. But I am super excited to have whipped this up for Christmas!

The fabric is a bright red ‘tomato’ ponte roma from my local haberdashery, Backstitch. It was so lovely to work with – such amazing quality. I will definitely be going back for some more ponte soon!

The Nikko asks for fabric which has a minimum of 75% stretch, which is quite a bit. I checked the ponte before cutting it up, and it did just about have that much stretch. However, I would definitely highlight that this is an important point for being able to stretch the neckband of the dress over your head! Luckily I have a little pea head so it just about stretched over (phew!).

And I’m going to be honest with you here – I haven’t finished the seam on the cuffs… because, well, I don’t have to! Lazy sewing… but hey, it’s Christmas!

Sizing-wise, I cut a 4 at the top, and graded to a 6 from the waist down to hip. Seems to have done the trick on my pear-shapedness!

Anyway, I’m pretty pleased with how this has turned out, and I can’t wait to wear it tomorrow for the big day. A bit worried about the bloating after Christmas dinner… but oh well!

Merry Christmas to each and every one of you – thank you so much for reading and visiting the blog this year. Here’s to more sewing coming this way in 2019!

1 Comment

Beautiful and very festive! This color might have superpowers, also. I'm reading a mystery novel right now where a lady's maid mentions that orange-reds make your teeth look bright white and pink-reds make them look yellower...I'm determined to put on a beautiful tomato like this and check if it's true!